The rapid rise of Donabe Miso Ramen TAKESAN, 1st anniversary in Paris

We visited Takesan Ramen on the first anniversary of its opening in Paris.
President Takeda was very pleased.
Takesan had only one restaurant in Nagano.
Even though it was an overseas franchise, with only two restaurants in Mongolia and one in Paris, there was something that caught President Takeda’s eye.

We first met President Takeda in 2015. He was participating in an overseas franchise seminar held by our company. He was introduced to our seminar by a mutual acquaintance who is a store designer. However, nothing happened at that time, and the conversation ended with just the seminar participation.
The turning point came in October 2017, when the designer posted a photo of the store under construction on Facebook, saying, “I’m opening a miso ramen restaurant.”
I immediately responded, “Where is it? What kind of miso ramen is it?”

Actually, at the time, we were looking for a miso ramen that could be exported overseas.

Why were we looking for miso ramen?
It was because in 2011, we opened a ramen shop called Bariuma Ramen in Singapore, which was a huge success. We realized that people overseas perceive ramen not as a noodle dish but as a soup dish. They even request extra soup instead of extra noodles, which is how much they value the soup.
If ramen is a soup dish and we aim for the global market, we need to create a ramen that can be enjoyed by the nearly 30% of the world’s population who are Muslim, and that has value in its soup.

In addition to “tonkotsu” (pork bone), which had already been a huge hit in Singapore,
・Soy sauce
・Salt
・Chicken
・Miso
were the main types of ramen soup. However, soy sauce gave the impression of being diluted soy sauce, salt was unimaginable, and chicken had a cheap feel to it. Miso, on the other hand, was seen as having the potential to compete on the global stage among the various types of ramen.

Thus, our company president, Tsuchiya, embarked on a journey to explore miso ramen.
He visited eight miso ramen shops daily, traveling from Hokkaido to Kyushu.
However, he was unable to find a miso ramen that could compete on the global stage.

The reason was that all the miso ramen used pork bones or chicken bones as the base soup, and the miso was merely one of the flavors, not the main focus.
When he proposed to the miso ramen shop owners the idea of creating a miso ramen that could compete on the world stage by making the miso the star and eliminating the meat, everyone shook their heads in disagreement.
On that disheartening day, he came across a post on a friend’s Facebook about a new miso ramen shop opening in Nagano.

I immediately made an appointment and headed to Nagano by Shinkansen.
Then, at the first Takesan restaurant in Nagano City, I tasted clay pot miso ramen for the first time.

I was disappointed.

This was also tonkotsu miso ramen.

I had spent a lot of money on the Shinkansen, only to find miso ramen that relied on pork bones.

With a look of utter disappointment on my face, I told President Takeda what I thought.

Mr. Takeda replied,
“I understand. I will take on the challenge. I will make a soup that does not use any meat, not even pork. I will also remove eggs from the noodles and make vegan miso ramen. Furthermore, I will make ramen that does not use any chemical seasonings such as MSG.”

I was happy, but I had mixed feelings.

This was because I knew that many Japanese ramen chain restaurant presidents did not create their own flavors, but instead left most of the work to suppliers (soup and noodle suppliers) and accepted their menu suggestions.
However, President Takeda, who had only been in business for 10 years and had only one restaurant, was different.

Two weeks later, the phone rang.
“Mr. Matsumoto, it’s ready. It’s vegan clay pot miso ramen. Please come and try it.”

Last time, I had taken the Shinkansen, but this time, since I was skeptical, I took a bus to Nagano at a cost of one-third the price. I couldn’t afford any more unnecessary expenses.
Although the bus took more than twice as long, it happened to stop at a bus stop just 200 meters from my home at the time, and the spacious interior was more comfortable than I had imagined.
I enjoyed the occasional rest stops to use the restroom and arrived at Nagano Station. I was greeted by President Takeda and headed to taste the prototypes.

Three types of soup were prepared at the restaurant. They were three types with different concentrations.

I tried them right away.
The miso flavor was rich. It was also flavorful. Although it had a thick texture, it did not contain any meat.
As for the concentration, I thought the thickest one, which would later become the mainstream, was the most delicious.
Each of the three prototypes was a normal serving size, but perhaps because they were made in clay pots, they remained warm and delicious even after some time had passed.

I think the meeting lasted about two hours, but I ended up eating all three prototypes.
Actually, this is just between us, but I rarely eat ramen in my private life. Eating too much wheat products such as ramen and bread upsets my colon and causes severe constipation.I often eat bread and ramen for work, but I am determined to avoid them.

On that day, I couldn’t help but finish all three bowls of clay pot miso ramen, which were delicious and prototypes, so in a sense, it was natural to finish them. I even finished the soup.
I was worried about my bowel movements the next morning, but to my surprise, I had a normal bowel movement.
Perhaps it was because I had consumed a large amount of wheat flour at the same time as a large amount of vegetables and plant fiber in the vegan soup, but I felt better than usual.

This is the story behind the birth of Shinshu Miso Kura Ramen, which became the best-selling menu item.

By the way, how was President Takeda able to complete the vegan Shinshu Miso Kura Ramen in just two weeks?

It was because the second store in Obuse was scheduled to open in January of the following year, marking the 10th anniversary of the company’s founding.
For the first 10 years, President Takeda had been working at the front of the store, but he had trained personnel who could take over the first store when the second store opened.
This allowed him to devote 100% of his time to the opening of the second store.
Obuse is a town with a population of 10,000, and more than 40% of the population is elderly. However, from September to November, tourists from all over the country gather for the chestnut season. It is a town that can also target tourist demand.
The terminus of the Nagano Electric Railway, where Obuse Station is located, is Yudanaka, which is famous for its hot springs and wild monkeys (snow monkeys), and in winter, foreign tourists come to see the snow monkeys.
President Takeda, who opened the second restaurant in such a place, was thinking about (1) a menu that would be accepted by elderly Japanese people and (2) a menu that would be accepted by foreign tourists, so this was the perfect opportunity to talk about a menu that could compete globally.

In fact, this was an unexpected stroke of luck.
Shinshu Miso Kura Ramen captured the hearts and stomachs of the elderly in Obuse.

Takesan

Meanwhile, Assentia Holdings has been receiving inquiries from various overseas entrepreneurs who want to bring Japanese food businesses to their own countries as franchises.
We use Zoom meetings to understand their needs and wants, propose several specific business plans, and organize inspection tours to Japan.

In 2018, when Takesan Obuse opened, a Mongolian business executive came on an inspection tour.
Before visiting Takesan, they had visited other ramen franchise headquarters in Hiroshima and conducted extensive research, but after visiting Takesan, the last stop on their tour, they visited the 240-year-old Kokuhei Miso Brewery, entered the wood-designed Takesan Obuse store, and ate miso ramen served in a clay pot, and their decision to join the franchise was set in stone.
From the story of the miso factory to the store design, the clay pots, and the miso ramen, they fell in love with the whole concept, and the Mongolian store was launched. It opened in the summer of 2019.

Then came the Paris store.
Initially, they visited our company because they wanted to join the cheesecake franchise, but during the course of various Zoom interviews, a ramen boom gradually began in Paris, and they wondered if there was a brand that could beat the existing ramen shops. They decided to organize an inspection tour.
This inspection tour was all about ramen, and we visited eight ramen shops from west to east. At Kokuhei Miso Brewery, which was also founded 245 years ago, we saw the traditional miso-making process, the wooden shop on the premises, the mysterious clay pots, and the miso ramen.
From the perspective of our franchisees, who always said they were confident in their local marketing, both the Kokuhei Miso Brewery and Take-san seemed to be projects full of content and stories that could be used for marketing.
At the inspection stage, we had almost decided to join the franchise. It was the end of 2022, when the coronavirus pandemic had ended.

For President Takeda, this meant opening a second restaurant in the 10 years since the company was founded.
The store designer was a friend from college who had designed both the first and second stores, as well as stores in Mongolia and Paris, and happened to be acquainted with Assentia Holdings. Assentia was looking for a miso ramen restaurant while the second store was under construction, and that was how it all started.
President Takeda had always had a vague desire to go abroad, but he didn’t even have a passport.
However, his creativity and efforts to please local customers were extraordinary.

Takesan Ramen He trained at ramen shops in Tokyo for several years before opening his first restaurant.
With a dream of creating a ramen that would become a Nagano specialty, he developed a unique clay pot miso ramen using miso, which is most famous in Shinshu, and a clay pot that keeps the ramen warm even in the cold winter, and opened his restaurant in 2008.

Until 2010, there was only one store, but now, 17 years later, there are two stores in Japan and three overseas.
Nagano’s famous ramen is now popular in Paris and Mongolia.

We are proud that our activities are contributing to this.